The Undoing
by Bellyaches Method
Summary: The Doctor embarks on a quest with a criminal to restore Gallifrey. Post-Doomsday, pre-Martha, AU.
1. Chance meeting

The library was warm, despite the cool October air. Erida took a deep breath. She loved the smell of libraries. It was almost like smelling knowledge itself.

She handed several books over to the elderly female receptionist, who greeted her with a smile.

"Is it exam week, dear?" The elderly woman asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Replied Erida. "I've got to crack down. At least the subject is interesting."

The elderly woman scanned the books out. They were about ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses, demons, and mythical creatures. She shook her head. "My grandson is into that kind of stuff. Never understood the appeal, myself. But to each their own." She then handed the books to Erida and wished her luck on her upcoming exams. Erida thanked her with a smile and exited the library.

Erida was not a college student. She wasn't even from Earth. Erida was a Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey. The last one. Or so she believed. She was a tall, slender woman with wavey black hair that at this time was pulled back into a braid and tied with a blue ribbon. Her almond shaped eyes were dark and old, and her skin was a pale. She wore a blue vest with silver floral designs, black slacks, and a black cardigan sweater. Around her neck was a seashell necklace, but they were not shells found on Earth; they were shells from Gallifrey. On a large, round, flat one, in delicate green writing, was her name in Gallifreyan. Her friend, Taxim, had made her the necklace when they had been children. But Taxim was gone now. Everyone was gone.

Erida hugged the books to her chest and walked briskly to her TARDIS. Inside it would be nice and warm and comfortable for reading.

The street was busy with countless people with nameless faces. Amother rushed her son along, crossing the street. A group of large men stood near a busstop laughing and talking. A man in a suit and a long brown coat was making frustrated noises at his cell phone.

"Working hard, gentlemen?" Erida asked the group of men as she began to pass, offering them a kind smile.

"Always, girlie, always." One of the largest said back at her, his bright white smile contrasting nicely with his dark brown skin.

She passed the man frustrated with his cell phone just as he let out a mumbled "for the love of-" His back was to her. She was a couple feet ahead of him when she heard him take a few quick steps towards her. "Excuse me, miss? Do you happen to have a-" He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

If Erida had not come from a race of people so sensitive to time, she would've sworn time slowed down. As the man touched her shoulder, she felt something she hadn't felt in years. As she turned around, she knew it was true. Erida looked into his eyes and saw that, like her, he had once gazed upon the Untempered Schism. He was a Time Lord. She was speechless. Her jaw hung open. He seemed to be just as taken aback.

"But..." he began. "You...? You can't be. How could you possibly be-?" He asked, astonishment plain in his voice.

"How can I be? How can _you _be?" She looked around. There were people staring. "Come on." She waved for him to follow her, then led him to an alley between a couple buildings. She put her books down on the top of a trash can lid.

"I thought I was the last." She breathed.

"So did I." He studied her with awe. "How did you survive?"

"Complete fluke." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I tried to ram the Doctor's TARDIS at the same moment he destroyed everything. I tried to stop him. I-"

"That was you!?" The man furrowed his brow with confusion. Then he caught sight of her necklace and saw her name. His eyes grew dark quickly and his voice lowered. "Oh _no, _it's _you!_"

"W-what?" Erida took a step back. His transition from awe to alarm was terrifyingly fast.

"You were supposed to be frozen in time!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Never to be awoken, Eridarrellhasilopaschore. You should be locked up!"

_Oh no._

Erida took off running down the alleyway, but she could hear his footfalls close behind her. She turned the corner and had to jump over a homeless person to avoid collision, then ran across the street. It was heavily trafficked and a few cars stopped short of hitting her. It didn't seem to slow him down, but she heard police sirens. There was one last chance. She saw a boat at the end of the dock, its crew just bringing in the anchor. She ran to it.

She wasn't quick enough. Halfway down the dock, he caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist and together they went down.

"Get off me!" she screamed, trying to free herself from him. "You're not locking me up!"

"Oh I think I am." He snarled, pinning her arms behind her just as a police officer ran up, weapon drawn.

"Stop right there!" She yelled.

With one hand still pinning Erida's hands to her back, the man reached inside his coat and produced a small wallet. "It's alright," he said, "I'm a detective. This woman here is under arrest. May I borrow your handcuffs? I dropped mine during the chase."

With horror, Erida looked on as the police officer put her gun away and handed him a pair of handcuffs. "No!" She yelled. "He's crazy! Please! Get him off me!"

The only reply she got was a "Hush you," from the man as he snapped the handcuffs on her and pulled her to her feet. She tried to pull away, but his grip on her arm was strong. He led her down the road a ways, where they attracted a few stares. Eventually they came to a more remote street, on the corner of which was a blue police box. Except it wasn't. Erida could see it for what it really was.

"Please," she said. "Don't lock me away. I'm not who everyone thought I was."

"Right. Suppose they mistook you for someone else that killed twelve prominent members of the Gallifreyan government then, eh?"

"It wasn't like that!"

"Yes, I'm sure it wasn't." He opened the door to his TARDIS and led her inside.

Past the control room, down a hall, down some stairs, to the right, down another hall, to the left. There were three rooms with long glass windows. He unlocked the first one, placed her inside, and closed the door.

She immediately made her way to the window. "Don't leave me in here!" She yelled, but he was walking away. "Stop! Please!" He ignored her. He hadn't even taken her cuffs off.

Resigned, she looked around the room. There was nothing in it. The walls and floor were white and bare. There was no bed, no table, no lamps, nothing. She walked to the wall and sat down against it, thinking of ways out.


	2. Escape

Erida had no idea how long she sat there, staring at a corner without really seeing it. Her mind was so preoccupied with escape plans that she didn't even notice when he came back and stared at her through the window. It was only when her handcuffs unexpectedly released themselves that she started from her thoughts in time to see him place a sonic device back into his pocket.

She got up, rubbing her wrists to bring the circulation back, and approached the window.

"So do I get to know your name?" She asked.

He seemed to consider this for a few minutes, but eventually answered "I'm the Doctor."

Erida let out a breathy laugh. "Of course," she said, "of all the others that could've survived, it had to be you."

"I could say the same about you."

"Yes but I didn't destroy our entire world."

"Not for lack of trying."

"Right." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Because you know so much about what happened."

"I know all I need to know."

"I'm sure." She walked up to the window and saw the Doctor flinch back slightly. "So is this it, then? You keep me here in this cage for the rest of my life?"

"If that's how it needs to be."

"Then kill me."

The Doctor backed away from the window. "No." He held her gaze for a minute, then walked away.

Erida waited a few minutes to be sure he was gone, then grabbed the handcuffs. She inserted the thinnest part of the metal into the crack of the door. She counted five wires. Carefully, very carefully she chose the wire she needed and yanked the handcuff out. The wire severed and she heard the door unlock. Too easy.

Quiet as a cat, she tiptoed out and down the hall, looking around corners, until she found her way to the control room. As she peaked around the corner, her hearts sank. He was there, but thankfully he hadn't seen her. She quietly opened the first door she came upon and stepped inside. It was a closet of sorts. She kept the door open just a crack to see out of, and she waited.

She waited 20 minutes, watching the Doctor fiddle with his instruments. Finally he checked a monitor one last time, and with a nod of his head he headed down the hall. Erida heard one of the doors to her left open and close again.

Ten seconds. That's all she would need to adjust the instruments and land them right back on Earth. She could be out the door in fifteen and could run to her TARDIS before he could even get through the doors. She took a deep breath and ran for it.

Turn a few knobs, flip a few switches, pull the lever. The TARDIS came to life, then halted again. She ran to the doors and threw them open.

Her hearts stopped dead. The Earth wasn't out there. Not immediately, anyway, but she could pinpoint where it was. She was looking at what the humans call the Milky Way, and suddenly it made sense.

She turned around and there he was. Standing next to the console, calm, his hands in his pockets. His expression was unreadable as he studied her.

"You knew I would excape."

"I did."

"Then why let me get this far? I don't understand."

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "You could've killed me. You didn't."

Erida shook her head. "I still don't understand."

"You're a psychotic killer." The Doctor said. "You could've broken out seconds after I left and killed me. You saw me by my console and could've killed me. You could've tampered with the controls in such a way that could kill me. You didn't. Why not?"

Erida didn't answer. She watched him walk over to a chair and sit, he was still eerily calm.

"I was brought up on stories about you. We all were after you were imprisoned. Rumor had it you couldn't control your psychotic urges towards the end. That you couldn't help killing. That you would kill anyone on sight for any reason. But you didn't. You didn't kill me. Why?"

Erida closed the doors, not looking at him. "Because I didn't want to. The stories you heard about me are wrong."

"Then I guess it's time you told me a story."


	3. Erida's Story

"Like every other child that entered the Academy, I was taken to the Untempered Schism when I was eight. But I didn't run or become inspired, I fell asleep. It wasn't a natural sleep. I was told that they tried everything to wake me but absolutely nothing worked. I slept for twelve hours."

The Doctor's eyebrows raised, but he showed no other emotion. Erida crossed her arms uncomfortably over her chest. She wasn't used to people listening to her.

"They couldn't wake me because I wasn't there. Not really. Something inside the Schism forced a connection with me. Something that lives only in dreams. Zagreus."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair, his eyes became tense, but his voice was carefully measured. "Zagreus is fiction. A story we tell our children."

Erida shook her head. "No, he's very real. I've been to his land. He exists within the Schism, feeding on Time energy. He's sick, sadistic. He told me about the Time War centuries before it happened."

"Supposing you're telling the truth, why would he tell you about the Time War?"

"Because he knew I'd try to stop it. He told me exactly who would start it and how. He knew that the knowledge of it would drive me insane."

"Is that why you murdered those people then? To stop the War?" He spat the words out, clearly disbelieving her.

"They weren't my target." She looked down, away. "They weren't supposed to die. But they refused to let me through and they tried to overpower me. They did overpower me eventually."

"So who was the target?"

"Rassilon."

"Oh come off it." The Doctor got up from his chair and rubbed his forehead, as if he were fighting off a headache. "You couldn't kill Rassilon, he was_ immortal_!"

"No, I could've. I had been working for two years on a substance that prevented regeneration. It bonded with silver, so I made a silver knife. If I had been able to kill Rassilon, he would've stayed dead and the Time War would've never happened." She shook her head sadly. "It's my fault, really. If I hadn't shouted about boogeymen for most of my life maybe someone would've taken me seriously. Instead I was the addled biochemist with a sleep disorder."

"So that's it, then? You killed a dozen people because they were in your way of killing Rassilon, thus preventing the War?" The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and began walking towards her.

"That's the basics of it. There's more to the story, but I don't feel comfortable talking about them with you just yet." He was a few inches away from her now, examining her with a face that betrayed no emotion or intent. "Do you believe me?"

"Maybe." With a quick move, the Doctor removed a small green device from his pants pocket and placed it behind Erida's ear before she could react.

Erida fell to her knees in a silent scream of pain. White hot tendrils moved from the place behind her ear up and out, into strategic places in her brain.

"What is this!?" she gasped. "What have you done!?"

"It's a killswitch." His voice was calm as he watched her writhe on the floor. "Don't try to remove it, you'll die if you do."

"_Why!?_" Erida held her head in her hands, trying to force the hot tendrils of pain back into the device. "It hurts!"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and directed it at her head. Slowly, the pain subsided.

"It's for my protection," he explained. "You see, I'm not sure I believe your story."

"It's true." Erida used a railing to help her to her feet and rubbed the hated object behind her ear. "I swear it is."

"And I believe that you believe that. But I'm not entirely convinced that you're sane. Maybe you're not the psychopath that I was led to believe you were, but you've killed before and I have no doubt you could do it again. If you prove to be sane enough, I'll remove it. But until then, I suggest you stop fiddling with it."

Erida chewed her lip for a minute before responding. "How do I prove to you that I'm sane?"

The Doctor shrugged, approaching the TARDIS console. "You just... be sane. Eventually I'll get the picture. Or you try to kill me and I activate the device and you'll die."

"Thanks a lot." With quick, aggrivated steps, Erida took off down the hallway.

"Guest bedroom, last door on your left." The Doctor called after her.


	4. The frozen ship

In the small guest bedroom, Erida looked at her neck in the mirror. When the Doctor had first pressed the device against her skin, it had been about an inch long and slightly bulbous, now it was completely flat and the size of a large freckle. It could be easily hidden in her hair. She tried pulling at it, but the pain in her brain made her stop. There was no way of removing it that she could see, so she finally went back out to the console room where the Doctor was frowning at a screen.

"Figure it out yet?" He asked her without looking at her.

Erida said nothing, but crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's Tafalonian." He explained, not bothering to see if she even cared. "The prison wardens use it on the prisoners. It's bio-coded to the prisoner's handler. Every sixteen hours it requires a living tissue sample from the handler. If it doesn't get one, the killswitch activates and you die. I'm your handler."

"A bastard is what you are."

"Whatever you like. Doesn't change the fact that you can't kill me without killing yourself."

"So what are you doing to do with me?"

"Well I'm not going to stop doing what I do just to babysit you. You can come along if you like, or you can sulk in the guest room. Your choice." He was typing something at one of his consoles and Erida immediately knew he was locking TARDIS controls to everything except his own bio-code.

"Can I go back to my TARDIS and get a few things?"

"Sure." He was done typing now and walked towards her with his hands in his pockets. "Give me the key and we'll go get your things."

"I don't think so!" With a scoff of disbelief, she backed away.

"What, don't trust me?"

"Gee, let me think about that one."

The Doctor shrugged and returned to his console. "Suit yourself. I'm going to explore the frozen plains of Berith, whether you're coming or not." After a minute, the TARDIS landed and he walked to the door, putting on his long brown coat. At the door he paused and looked at her expectantly.

"Damnit..." Erida eventually sighed and followed him out.

As far as Erida could see, all the world was frozen. She could see no trees or plant life, but many small snow dunes. In the sky she could see three planets. Two of them were quite close; she could see rings one one of them. She pulled her cardigan tight around her as the Doctor locked his TARDIS.

"Doesn't look like there's anything here." Erida said. "Did you come here just to look?"

"No, I got called here." The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small wallet with psychic paper inside. The paper came to life as Erida took hold of it. "Please help us!" written again and again until the paper was rendered black. Each time written with a different hand.

"So who is it? And where are they?" She handed the paper back to him and again took in her surroundings.

"Last I knew, the Trani were settling here."

"What!? The Trani? But they fought alongside us in the War. I assumed..."

"No, they survived. There's not many left, but they're out there."

"Well then let's go find them." Erida began walking up the nearest snow dune for a better look. The Doctor followed a few steps behind.

The snow was deep and the pair sank in it to their knees as they stumbled their way up the dune. It was roughtly thirty feet high. At the top of the dune, the wind whipped around them, sending the Doctor's hair flying about in every direction.

More dunes. That's all Erida saw. In every direction, the landscape was barren and snowcovered and the wind was shaping and reshaping the large piles of snow. Then Erida heard it.

A small, faraway voice called out throught the wind. _"We're over here! Please hurry!"_

"Doctor, did you hear that?"

The Doctor, who had been looking in the opposite direction, whipped around to face the way Erida faced. "No, I didn't hear anything. You heard something?"

"It's very distant." Erida said, as the voice called out again. "I can only just hear it. I think it's coming from... yes! Look! There's something sticking out of that dune." Erida pointed to a thin, semi-circular black object sticking out of a snow dune. It had to be at least 40 yards away.

The Doctor squinted into the distance for a few minutes before finally declaring that that was what he was looking for, so together they stumbled down the dune and trudged their way through the snow and wind to the object sticking out of the snow.

By the time they reached what was sticking out of the dune, Erida was chilled to the bones. She couldn't fell her feet, hands, or face, and was grateful at the sight of a door. That meant a ship; a ship meant life support; life support meant warmth. She helped the Doctor dig away the snow that was slowly burying the door and together they yanked it open.

The Doctor went in first, using his sonic screwdriver to check that their surroundings were safe, then waved her down.

Erida descended a ladder and found herself in the control room of a ship. But there was snow everywhere. On the chairs and screens, a large pile of it sat at the foot of the ladder. A red light slowly flashed.

"Something's wrong." She said. "Why isn't it warmer in here? The life support should be on." She hugged herself in an attempt to supress her shivering. "The ship must've malfunctioned. They're all probably below in the engine room trying to get it started, they-"

"Erida." The softness in his voice made her turn. He had stripped off his long brown coat and was holding it out to her. "I didn't realize how cold you were. I'm sorry."

She hesitated for a minute, but the look on his face was that of genuine concern, so she put on his coat. It fell just above her ankles and was still warm from his body. Erida buttoned it up and hugged it to her, trying to keep the warmth in for as long as she could.

"What about you, how are you going to stay warm?"

The Doctor pulled at his suit sleeve to reveal a long, warm looking cotton shirt. "I'll be fine. Let's find the Trani. Follow me."

He led them down a hallway, pausing to check each screen they came across, but none would come to life. Midway down a flight of stairs, Erida heard it again.

_"Help! Please! We're in here!"_

"There!" Erida pointed to a room giving off a soft greenish glow. "Hear that? That's where they've been calling us from."

She ran past the Doctor and entered the room. Rows upon rows upon rows of cold stasis units lined the walls. Erida approached the nearest one and began wiping off snow and ice. The Doctor checked the working screen with his sonic screwdriver, a frown on his face.

Erida finally cleared enough off of the stasis unit to see the face of a male Trani. "He's asleep," she said.

"They're all asleep," said the Doctor. "Every Trani on the ship."

There was a small pause as the same thought occured to both Erida and the Doctor. Erida's eyes became wide with fear.

"Erida..." he began carefully. "How could you hear them calling if they're all asleep?"


	5. The Trani

"Erida, how could you hear them calling if they're asleep?" The Doctor repeated when she didn't answer.

"I don't know..." she lied. "You can't hear them?"

The Doctor shook his head. Now that they were in the stasus room, Erida could hear the multiple voices screaming in her head. She rubbed her temples as the Doctor looked at her with a thoughtful frown. "We have to get them out of their stasus units."

The Doctor already had his sonic screwdriver out and pointed at the screen. A few seconds later, Erida heard clamps release and the Doctor say "Here we go."

A half dozen stasus units came to life with white lights, including the one Erida had cleaned off. The glass lifted and the Trani inside put his hand to his head. The Trani were small people, about half the size of a normal humanoid. They were skinny, with long thin fingers, transluscent yellow skin, and brown feathers atop their head.

"Oh I have got the worst headache." The Trani in front of her moaned.

"After effects of your stasus unit. You'll be fine." Erida extended her hand to him, which he took. "My name is Erida, and this is the Doctor. We got your message."

"Asos Alell." He said. "Good to know. We were screaming loud enough."

"Yes, about that..." The Doctor grabbed Erida by her arm. "I know you're lying to me." He whispered. "We'll talk about this after we get the Trani situated."

"Not that you'll believe me." Erida jerked her arm out of his grip and watched him be led away by a pair of Trani to the engine room.

"Boyfriend trouble?" Asos looked up at her.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's my prison warden." Erida said. "Come on, let's get your ship up and running."

Erida and Asos made their way back up to the control room. Erida situated herself underneath a station and removed a panel. The wires and blinking lights inside told her a story.

"You've burnt out a few boards and wires." she said. "But I think I have enough workable material here to bypass the flaws. At least for now. If nothing else I can get life support up and running."

"Please, do." Asos said. "It's freezing in here."

Erida smiled. "Working on it. So tell me what happened? How did you all end up in stasus on a broken ship?"

"I'm not sure what exactly went wrong," said Asos as he fiddled with the screens that had come to life under his touch. "For some unknown reason we crashed. We had to put ourselves in stasus to survive the impact."

"Why the frozen plains of Berith?" Erida looked at him. The Trani were a physically fragile species, not able to withstand extreme temperatures for long.

He smiled. "We were headed for Norme, actually."

"You missed." Erida smiled back.

"Just a bit - ah! You're a genius!"

Erida had bypassed the damaged components. The ship came to life with warm air and lights. Seconds later, the Doctor's voice could be heard over the intercom.

"Asos Alell, this is the Doctor. Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Doctor. Did you wake the women?"

"No, a few of the others went to do that. Phury took me to the engine room."

There was an uncomfortable pause. Erida held her hands up to the air vent to warm.

"They've been sabotaged, haven't they?" Asos rubbed his forehead, scattering a few feathers.

"Yes, well, nothing that can't be fixed with a few hours time... but Phury says it was likely one of you."

Asos nodded "I was afraid of that. Tell him to gather the women. Erida and I will wake the men and we'll meet on the hangar deck."

"Will do."

Erida pulled her hands away from the warm air vents. "Do you know who it is?"

"Not yet, but we have ways of finding out." He waved her to follow him and together they got all the male Trani out of stasus.

It took a few hours, but eventually all the Trani were assembled in the hangar deck. Erida and the Doctor leaned over the railing on an upper level, watching as Asos stood on a few boxes and whistled to get everyone's attention.

"Someone among us has damaged our engines, and as a result temporarily stranded us on Berith. I advise the traitor, or anyone with information on the traitor, to speak up now."

Silence followed this. Thousands of feathered heads said nothing.

"So be it." He then raised his face to the ceiling and lifted up his arms. All the Trani followed.

Fasicnated, Erida leaned further out to get a better look. Every single one of them, at least ten thousand Trani, had their faces and hands raised to the sky. She had never seen anything like it before. And then it hit her. A wave of psychic energy swept over her and she nearly lost her balance. The Doctor caught her by the crook of her arm.

"Easy now." he said. "Never experienced the Trani's psychic abilities?"

"No." Erida held her head as she heard thousands of Trani talking in her mind. "Wait, yes. This is what I heard in the snow, only quieter. Can't you hear it?"

"I can hear it now, but I didn't hear it in the snow." There was a pause as he studied her. "So are you going to tell me the truth?"

"Are you going to believe it?"

"I might."

His eyes told Erida a different story, but she tried anyway. "I think I'm psychically connected to people when they're asleep." She didn't need to look at him to tell he didn't believe her. "Not _all _people. Maybe just those with psychic abilities. I think it's because of my connection to Zagreus. He only exists in dreams, so maybe I have a connection to the world of dreams."

There was a long pause before the Doctor finally said "Right." and looked away from her.

Erida sighed. _Well, it was worth a shot. _She turned her attention back to the Trani. For several more minutes, the Trani held their position, until one of them, a woman, fell to her knees. In unison, the rest of them put down their hands. Several people close by put their hands on her to keep her down. Slowly, Asos approached.

"Verla. Not who I expected. But why?"

The woman, Verla, began to laugh. "You stupid man." she said. "Who will protect us now from the evils of the universe? The Time Lords have gone. They all burned. We are better off dead."

Asos shook his head sadly. "The women will do with you what they deem appropriate, traitor." And with that, she was hauled away and the crowd dispersed to their various jobs.

The Doctor and Erida descended the stairs to meet Asos.

"What will be done with her?" the Doctor asked.

"She's to be imprisoned. She'll be well cared for, but will not be allowed to work or mate." A female that stood behind Asos said.

"Ah, imprisonment then. Erida, you should go talk to her about that. I'm sure you'd have a lot to tell her on the subject."

Erida shot him a hateful look, but said nothing.

"Right well, we should be off. Looks like you've got things under control here."

Asos wasn't paying attention to him. Instead his eyes were on Erida. The Time Lord's thinly veiled insult did not go unnoticed by him. "Would you please stay and have a meal with us?" he asked her. "It will be our first meal in years. I promise it will be good." He held out his hand to her.

Despite her anger, Erida smiled. "Sure, Asos. I'd love to." She took off the Doctor's long brown coat and handed it back to him. "I'm warm enough, thanks." Then she took Asos' hand and allowed herself to be led away.

"Yes, well... I suppose we should stay a while longer. Make sure no futher sabotage happens." The Doctor mumbled to no one in particular, before follwing them.

The greenhouse on the ship was enormous, with plantlife seemingly from every planet the Trani had ever been to. It was the only place, other than the stasus rooms, on the ship that had maintained power after the crash. Several hundred Trani picked the ripe fruits and vegetables for their meal, Asos and Erida among them. The Doctor leaned against a wall as he watched Erida interact with the Trani. She laughed and chatted like a normal person. She listened intently as the Trani told her about the plants. She helped them fill the food baskets, being able to pick the ripe fruits that the Trani couldn't reach. It was like watching her with a bunch of yellow, feather-headed children. The Doctor found himself wondering if she had ever considered parenthood before he remembered she was psychotic.

But she wasn't _acting _psychotic. That's what he found disturbing. She was supposed to be trying to kill them. She was supposed to be insane beyond help. That's why she had been frozen in time, a punishment most Time Lords deemed to be near torturous. So why was she so normal?

Was she really insane, or had she told him the truth?

The meal had been good, as Asos promised, and the company even better. Erida found herself among the highest ranking Trani, who were glad of her company and freely shared their stories, jokes, and lives with her. The Doctor sat three seats away from her, unusually subdued.

About halfway through their meal, several more Trani entered the galley and announced that they had fixed the engines, to much applause and cheering from the diners.

"That's great," said Erida. "Are you still going to settle on Norme?"

"If nobody else has." Asos said.

"Nobody has." The Doctor finally spoke up. "Planet's all yours."

"Great!" Asos' grin spread from ear to ear and he began to get up. "In that case, why don't you two accompany me back to the control center, see if we can get this old bird in the air."

"Sure. You think someone fixed my wiring to something more permanent yet?" Erida followed suit, gathering up her plate and cutlery.

"_Your _wiring?" The Doctor asked, falling into step with them.

"Yes, Doctor. My wiring. There were a few boards and wires that were damaged beyond repair, so I had to do a bit of rewiring to get the life support system online."

"She did a great job." Asos offered. "Considering how much damage was done. And I'm sure someone's been in to replace the damaged parts by now."

Nobody had, and the Doctor spent five minutes checking the systems with his sonic screwdriver as Erida leaned against the wall farthest away from him with her arms crossed over her chest. Several Trani sat impatiently at their stations.

"Are you quite finished?" Asos asked when the Doctor finally put his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket.

"Just wanted to make sure nothing had been tampered -"

"He was making sure I didn't do anything that would blow up the ship." Erida interrupted. Asos looked to her in surprise. "But don't worry. Of those of us in this room, I'm not the one that's obliterated an entire civilization."

Erida knew the Doctor's eyes would be full of loathing for her, but she refused to give him the pleasure of returning it. Instead she stared out of the window, waiting for the Trani to fly.

And fly they did. After the Trani checked that all systems were up and running, they broke their ship free of the snow and ice and took to the sky. The Doctor pointed them in the direction of his TARDIS. Now that the Trani were on their way to Norme, there was no longer a reason for Erida and the Doctor to stay. They landed next to his TARDIS.

"Come on, then!" The Doctor cheerfully climbed up the ladder and gestured for Erida to follow.

"I'll be there in a minute." Erida saw Asos get up from his seat. "I want to say goodbye." She walked over to Asos with a sad smile.

"You should stay here," he said. "He's a jerk."

Erida breathed a laugh. "Yeah he is. But I'm tethered to him, unfortunately." She moved back her hair to show him the killswitch.

Asos shook his head. "Well if you're ever free of him, come find us. You'll always be welcome."

"Thanks." Erida bent down to kiss his cheek. "Let's hope I see you again, then."

"I'll be waiting."

With that, Erida ascended the ladder and met the Doctor by his TARDIS, waving goodbye to the Trani as they exited the planet.


	6. Aboard the Enterprise pt1

"So why are we here?"

"I don't always go somewhere for a specific reason," the Doctor said. "Sometimes I just go to go."

"Right." Erida nodded and looked around. "So what is this place?"

They stood in the middle of a large gathering area. Hundreds of happy people busied themselves about. Among the dominant species were humans and white, gelatenous beings that could change their forms at will. Several of them walked around in the form of other species. Scattered about the area were old people playing cards, children running around playing, various couples sharing intimate meals. Through the windows, passengers could see the hazy blue planet below.

"It's a cruise ship!" The Doctor smiled. "After the frozen plains I thought it would be nice to go somewhere warmer and more relaxing. What do you think?"

"Uh huh." Erida was distracted by a group of the gelatenous children playing a mimicking game. She smiled as one of them formed the shape of a human child making a scary face. Their psychic laughter filled her head.

The Doctor watched her carefully until she finally turned her attention back to him.

"So what do you do on a cruise ship?" She asked.

"You have fun! There's food and shows and people... I love people. Come on." He nodded his head towards a large, black, square structure in the middle of the room. On it was etched a map of the ship in clean white lines. Above the picture in bold print was the word "ENTERPRISE."

"Ah, humans." The Doctor chuckled before moving to the other side of the square. "Here we go, event list! Well, well. Looks like we're not on a cruise ship after all. We're on a wedding ship!"

Erida moved to the side of the square the Doctor was looking at and sure enough, scheduled to occur in a few hours, was the wedding of Hilie and Helle.

"We should go," she said. "We don't belong here."

"'Course we don't. That's what makes it fun!" He flashed her a cheeky smile before striding to a podium near the large entrance to the room.

"Hello! The Doctor plus one checking in." He flashed the worker his psychic paper. "I won't be on your list."

"Very well, sir," the worker replied. "Then here is your room key. Ceremony starts in two hours. Please enjoy yourselves."

"Thank you." The Doctor handed Erida the key and led them out the large doors.

"I can't believe you're crashing a wedding," Erida said once they were out of hearing range.

"You're here, too! And we're not crashing it, we're attending it. Unexpectedly."

"You're attending it," Erida corrected. "I'm not going to a complete stranger's wedding."

"Why not?"

"It's rude! A wedding is a private matter. Something between family and friends. Not anyone who just happens to walk in."

"Erida, this ship can hold five thousand people and is very nearly full. Do you really think the couple knows every single person onboard?"

He had her there, so they explored the ship until the announcement was made that the wedding guests should report to the banquet hall. They filed in with the rest of the guests through the front doors. Upon entering, they were offered a milky white drink in a crystal bowl, which the Doctor refused but Erida took with thanks. As she was bringing the bowl up to her lips, the man who handed her the drink put his hand over it.

"Not until the toast!" He warned.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Erida smiled sheepishly at him before the Doctor led her away to where they could stand and watch the wedding.

As soon as everyone was settled, the music began. It was a slow, formal sound made by something resembling a harp. At the front of the room, from either side, two groups of the gelatenous people approached a long length of glass that separated them. Two people, in the form of human females went right up to it and placed their hands on it, is if trying to touch the other through the glass.

From the entrance the guests came through, a large person appeared in the shape of a human man, except he had large wings. He walked up to the two women and the glass.

_The act of marriage, _his psychic voice inside the guests heads said, _is the act of taking two people, separated from each other all their lives, and combining them to make a single pair, forever, never to be separated. In doing this, neither will ever be alone again. Hilie, is this what you desire?_

_ Yes. _The woman on the left said.

_Helle, is this what you desire?_

_ Yes. _The woman on the right said.

_Then it is my honor to be the one to remove the last object that separates you. _The winged man reached out and pulled the glass away, laying it neatly on the floor in front of them.

The two women, now beaming, placed their hands together, one's left and the other's right. Together, the hands shifted shape until they formed a ball. It was impossible to tell where one hand ended and the other began. They were infused.

_And what are your first words to each other as a combined pair? _Asked the winged man.

Hilie went first. _I promise to love and care for you, and I will try in every way to be worthy of your love. I will always be honest with you, kind, patient and forgiving. I promise to try to be on time. _There was a small pause, as Helle and several guests laughed at this. Hilie smiled. _But most of all, I promise to be a true and loyal friend to you. I love you._

Helle wiped away a few tears before she began. _I promise to love and care for you, and I will try in every way to be worthy of your love. I will always be honest with you, kind, patient and forgiving. I promise to keep a sense of humor. But most of all, I promise to be a true and loyal friend to you. I love you._

The guests that weren't holding bowls of drink applauded, and the couple kissed. Someone from each of their families approached with a bowl of drink for them. The couple took the bowls, turned to the guests, and raised them high into the air.

The guests with bowls raised them in reply, including Erida. The newlywed couple drank first, then the guests.

"Oh. It's sweet." Erida said once she'd finished it. "Not what I was expecting."

Suddenly, Hilie and Helle, still connected, fell over, their families catching them. Then one by one, the guests started dropping. Everyone that drank the white drink fell.

There was just enough time for the Doctor and Erida to look at each other. Shock registered on Erida's face, before she crumpled to the ground.

END PART 1

Author's note: Hello! Thanks for reading! I'm sorry this update did not come as quickly as the last five, but I am a college student and the new term has started up again. I promise to try to update once a week. I hope you're enjoying my story. Please tell me if you're not and what you think I could do so you would enjoy it. Much love ~Belly.


	7. Aboard the Enterprise pt2

"Erida!" The Doctor tried to catch her, but wasn't quick enough. She hit the ground. He rolled her over and forced her eyelids open. Her eyes were blank, unseeing, but her pulse was steady and her breathing slow and even. He looked around at the families holding their relatives who had drank. They all seemed calm.

"What is this?" He caught the eye of the drink distributor and got up to meet him, grabbing the man's shirt in his fist. "What the hell have you done!? What was in that drink!?"

"I-i-it is the Cata milk!" He held his hands up defensively. "I have done nothing!"

"What is that? What is Cata milk?" He was shouting and several people were starting to stare.

_"It's the ceremonial drink of our people." _The winged man was approaching them. _"So that the new couple may experience each other's strongest memories. Together. Your friend is not hurt."_

The Doctor released his grip on the little man's shirt and turned to the winged priest. "Experience their strongest memories…? You mean the milk's a hallucinogen?'

The winged priest nodded and the people who drank began to stir. Erida sat up and looked around. Her eyes were wide and dark. Her pupils were so large that no sign of her dark brown irises could be seen.

"… Daddy?" Her voice, though distinctly adult, reminded the Doctor of a small child.

_"Everything she experiences will be real for her. She won't remember drinking the milk until she awakens."_

Erida looked at the ground before her, placed her hands on it. "Daddy wake up!" She shook her hands as if trying to wake someone from a deep slumber. "Daddy you're scaring me!"

The Doctor squatted down in front of her, his arms resting on his knees. "What's happening, Erida? What's wrong with your father?' He frowned at her eerie black eyes.

"He won't wake up!" She looked up at him with a face full of tears. "He fell and he won't get up!" Again, she tried to shake the floor awake. "And now he's glowing! Daddy, stop it, I'm scared!"

"Glowing?" The Doctor furrowed his brow, but then immediately he understood. "Oooh. He's regenerating. You must be very young to not know about regenerating yet." He felt a little thread of pity work its way into his hearts. He sat beside her and put an arm around her. "It's alright, Erida. It's alright. You have to give him a bit of space now."

She looked at him as if he had just sprouted another head. "I can't leave my Daddy!"

"No, we're not going to leave him, just watch. He'll be ok."

He waited as Erida watched the empty ground. Suddenly she let out a little shriek, covered her eyes with her hands, and buried her face in the Doctor's chest. He hugged her to him and quietly shushed her, protecting her from the blinding light of her father's regeneration.

After it was over, Erida peeked out through her fingers and looked around. "Where is he? Where's my Daddy?" She looked up, huddling further into the Doctor's arms. "Who are you? What have you done with my Daddy?"

There was a short pause, then: "No you're not, you look nothing like my Daddy!"

Her gaze began to lower, and the Doctor could almost imagine her father crouching down so his daughter could look into his eyes and recognize him. And she must've, because Erida's eyes grew wide and she reached out a hand to touch his invisible face. "What's… regeneration?"

Without warning, Erida's hand fell. She closed her eyes and slumped against the Doctor, apparently asleep.

The Doctor looked around at the other people lost in their memories, wondering if that was it. It wasn't. After a few seconds, Erida opened her eyes and got up. Without a word, she walked to one of the round tables, sat down, and peered into a glass of water. After turning it a few times, she picked up a spoon and wrote something down on a napkin, then began tapping it impatiently against the table. Her jaw clenched and her legs jittered impatiently.

The Doctor recognized the look on her face immediately. It was the look of someone who had long been working on a puzzle, the solution just out of reach. He sat next to her, wondering what she saw.

"Talk it out, Erida. What are you doing?"

"I'm observing the regeneration process in cells on a molecular level when exposed to an organic compound I've created."

"Really?" The Doctor's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Why?"

She sighed heavily. "So I can stop it."

"What? What for!?"

"To kill Rassilon… But it's not working! Logically it should, but it's not! I'm missing something. The cells are not reacting at all to it."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair with hardened eyes. So there it was. Mad, murderous Erida had made her appearance. He couldn't say he was surprised. And what's worse was that she was clever. She'd never intended to just stab people to death. She had wanted to do it patiently, with science. The Doctor was almost glad that she hadn't scrapped the formula and tried for something new. Who knows how many people she would've killed otherwise?

"AUGH! What does it need!?" Erida got up angrily from her chair and made a motion as if to wipe something from the air, and then write something else in its place. She stared at her invisible writing, her jaw clenching and unclenching, fork tapping impatiently against the table.

Suddenly her jet black eyes softened, the fork stopped tapping. She put her hand up as if to cover something, removed it, and then did the same in another spot in the air.

"Silver," she said. "I can't believe it. It needs to bond with silver in order to work… I need silver."

She sighed then, and dropped her head. The Doctor, fearing she might fall over, made to catch her, but she caught herself in time, clutching the table to stabilize herself.

"You alright?" He put a hand on her back, just in case she really did fall over.

Erida straightened and faced him, but she was seeing through him. He wasn't even there. She continued to clutch the fork. She appeared sad, but determined. "Don't do this, Rassilon. I've told you what is to come, and I can't let that happen. You and I are the only ones that need to die."

The Doctor took his hand off of her and backed up with fear. He knew exactly what she was reliving.

"I'll kill them all, if they try to stop me from killing you. Save them, Rassilon. Don't let them die uselessly."

The Doctor looked around frantically; making sure nobody was in her vicinity but him.

"So be it." She knelt on the ground and slashed at the Doctor's legs with the fork.

He jumped back and caught her foot as she attempted to kick him in the face. He twisted her foot and flipped her to the ground where he wrestled the fork from her hand and flung it to the side. He held her down as she flailed beneath him, reliving the day she murdered the high council members.

The Doctor was surprised how long it took for someone to stop her. It was nearly ten minutes before she let out a cry of pain and her body relaxed. When he was sure her murderous rage had passed, he got off of her.

Immediately, she got up and looked at him with absolute terror. "No, please don't! Not that!" She backed away from him, but there was something wrong with her hands. They looked like they were bound together. "You can't! You don't understand; he needs to die! He's going to destroy us all!"

The Doctor caught her just as she stumbled over a chair. She hit him on the shoulder with her bound hands and began screaming. "No! Don't do this! Don't lock me away! Please!" She thrashed about so hard that the Doctor lost his grip on her, but she didn't back up any farther.

Her breathe came in quick and rapid. She held her hands up, as if pressed against something. "Don't keep me in here," she pleaded. "Don't freeze me. Please… please…" Tears began to flow. With a shaky, grief-stricken voice, she said "The Daleks are going to kill you all."

The Doctor was in so much shock at this statement, that he almost didn't catch her in time. He lowered them both to the ground, where he held her head in the crook of his arm. Her eyes, unblinking, stared up at the ceiling. The rest of her body was totally limp. She began to sing, cold and clear and hauntingly:

"Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed, and eats you while you're sleeping..."

The Doctor recognized the song, and let her sing it alone. He gently stroked her arm, unsure if she was even aware of him. Whether she was or not, he felt the need to comfort her.

There was a coldness in the pit of the Doctor's stomach. He had no idea what memory she was reliving now, but he could guess pretty easily what memory she had relived just before. It was the day she had been frozen in time. Hearing her pleading was disturbing enough, but what froze the Doctor's insides was what she had said last. "The Daleks are going to kill you all." She had been frozen centuries before they had been aware of the Daleks. There was no way she could know about them. Unless...

Unless she had told him the truth. But how could it possibly be the truth?

Maybe not all of it is, he reasoned. But some of it must be, as impossible as it sounded. It was true that she had a sleep disorder. This was documented in the records and was studied extensively. Maybe because of this disorder, she somehow saw the future the day she was taken to the Schism. She was a child, but by then she would've heard the Legend of Zagreus. It had likely terrified her, just as it had terrified him. Put that alongside her disorder and her terrible glimpse of the future... Her actions would've been understandable. And, he realized, they had been a last resort. She had warned Rassilon before she killed the council members.

The Doctor looked down at her, his eyes full of sympathy. She was still singing.

_This poor girl... _he thought. _This poor, damaged girl had tried to warn us all, but nobody listened to her. I didn't listen to her. They treated her like a criminal and locked her away where they could forget about her. _He ran a thumb over the small green killswitch. He had left the release device in the TARDIS, otherwise he would've released her from it right then. _And I did no better, submitting her to this when she hadn't held any ill will for me... Shows just what kind of bastard I am. _Guilt and regret infused with his sympathy and together the emotions worked their way into his hearts, making them ache.

Erida stopped singing. The Doctor was afraid of what would be next.

Erida grabbed her head and groaned with pain.

"Are you alright?"

"Hit my head... hard." Her black eyes told him she was still hallucinating. The Doctor looked around at the other drinkers. All but the newlyweds had already come out of their hallucinatory state. But, then again, Erida had lived longer than most of the people in the room. She had more memories than most.

She suddenly seemed to realize where she was, wherever she was. She leaped up and stumbled towards the nearby table muttering "No, no, no..." She ran around the table, turning glasses, flipping invisible switches, pulling invisible levers until she reached her destination.

She stared at something in the air. A look of horror overtook her face and she covered her mouth.

"_No!_" She cried. "I can't believe he did it. He actually did it. Our people... our home..." With a sudden rage, she picked up a glass and threw it. It shattered against another table, the force of which sent several other glasses toppling over.

"That _bastard!_" She screamed. "Damn it! Damn him!" She kicked the table, sending a few more items flying off, but her anger was quickly ebbing.

Erida turned her back on the table and put her head in her hands, sobbing. She slid down until she finally plopped onto the ground. "How could you? HOW!?"

The Doctor realized that, though she didn't know he was there, she was still talking to him. He knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I had no choice." He told her.

"Our people! All of them – gone!"

"They were insane. You know what they were planning."

"It wasn't their fault. It wasn't... It was my fault. I tried to warn them, protect them, save them. But I couldn't..." Her entire body shook as she wept. "I couldn't save them. I failed..."

The Doctor took her in his arms, shushing her. Tears threatened their way out, but he blinked them back. "It's not your fault." He whispered into her hair. "It's not. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He held her as she cried for a minute longer, until she suddenly stopped and looked directly at him.

"... Doctor?" Her dark brown irises began to show as her pupils returned to their normal size.

"Coming back, are we? How many fingers?"

It took Erida a while to focus on his hand. It was like trying to see through a fog. "Three, I think. Did I go somewhere?"

"You could say that. Come on, up you get."

Erida allowed him to help her up, then wiped her face with her hand.

"I've been crying," she said with a bit of surprise. "Why have I been crying?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember... the drink? Yes. There was a toast. And then the couple fell over." She looked with concern at the newlyweds, but they were in no danger. Just coming out of their memories themselves, they sat on the floor disengaging their hands from one another.

"They're fine," he reassured her. "And then what happened? To you?"

"I fell... I fell and..." She rubbed her forehead, frowning. "It's so weird. It's like I went back into my own head and..." The realization dawned on her. "I was remembering. Not everything, but some things."

The Doctor nodded. "Apparently it's the custom of the people here to drink a hallucinogen at weddings. It makes them relive their memories together. Suppose it strengthens the bond for the new couple. Not quite sure what it's supposed to do for the guests that drink it."

Erida looked around them. There were chairs toppled over, glass and water on the floor. She was sure she knew which memory had resulted in the mess.

"Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, don't worry. Nobody got hurt. Though you did give it a good hard try. Which reminds me, you're no longer allowed near forks."

He couldn't help laughing at the look Erida gave him.

"Kidding! Just kidding. Though, you and I need to have a serious talk when we're back in the TARDIS." He brushed her hair aside to reveal the killswitch again. "I'm taking it off. You're not mad. I'm sorry I put it on you to begin with." He paused, considering his last words carefully. "I believe you."

Erida was too stunned to respond.

END PART 2

Author's note: Hello again! I hope you're enjoying my story. Please tell me if you're not and what I could do differently so that you will enjoy it. :) Tipping my hat at you, Denise. I hope I've cleared everything up that needs to be?

This will be the last of Erida's backstory, so don't worry, they'll be fighting monsters soon enough!

Also, the song Erida is singing is taken from the audio play entitled "Zagreus." It's a wonderful audio drama that I suggest you all go listen to, and sparked the idea for this fanfic. The entire song is as follows:

"_Zagreus sits inside your head,_ _Zagreus lives among the dead,_ _Zagreus sees you in your bed,_ _And eats you when you're sleeping._

_Zagreus at the end of days,_ _Zagreus lies all other ways,_ _Zagreus comes when time's a maze,_ _And all of history is weeping._

_Zagreus taking time apart,_ _Zagreus fears the hero heart,_ _Zagreus seeks the final part,_ _The reward that he is reaping._

_Zagreus sings when all is lost,_ _Zagreus takes all those he's crossed,_ _Zagreus wins and all it cost,_ _The hero's hearts he's keeping._

_Zagreus seeks the hero's ship,_ _Zagreus needs the web to rip,_ _Zagreus sups time at a drip,_ _And life aside, he's sweeping._

_Zagreus waits at the end of the world,_ _For Zagreus is the end of the world._

_His time is the end of time,_ _And his moment time's undoing."_


	8. Aboard the Enterprise pt3

The rest of the wedding passed without much incident. After everyone had recovered from the Cata milk, someone challenged Hillie (who, it turned out, was a star basketball player) to a game. So a holographic basketball hoop and ball were conjured and teams were made. The Doctor volunteered Erida and himself to play. Erida played for Hillie's team and the Doctor for Helle's.

They quickly discovered they were both horrible at basketball, which amused the rest of the players. Even right in front of the basket Erida could not make a shot, and the Doctor couldn't dribble to save his life. The players spent half of the game laughing. By the time dinner was announced, they were sweaty and out of breath, but in a wonderful mood. Nobody had been keeping score.

The food and drink looked and smelled good, but the Doctor and especially Erida were wary of it. They spent the dinner eating the fruits that they could identify and drinking water.

They sat at a table with a pair of gelatinous people (whose species, they learned, was also named Cata). The Doctor immediately struck up a conversation with them. Erida quietly munched an apple until she learned that the Cata people had no gender. This excited the biochemist in Erida, and she spent the better part of an hour happily discussing the Cata's reproductive process, gestation, and genetic makeup.

It was late by the time the newlyweds were announced to be leaving and the banquet hall closing. Hillie and Helle, hand in hand, waved goodbye to the applauding and cheering guests and left through one of the back doors.

The guests then filed out through the front door and went to their various locations. Erida went to one of the windows to look at the Cata homeworld. It was a heavy atmosphered planet made up of mostly water, but with thousands of small islands dotted all over. The Doctor stood next to her, observing the planet until the silence pressed on him like a thousand pound weight.

He looked over at Erida. She had her hands on the sill and was leaning slightly forward; her upper body was illuminated with the blue glow of the planet below.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"What? Oh, I'm fine. Could do with a shower, though." Erida pointed to her hair, which stuck to her head with dried sweat.

"Not what I meant." The Doctor crossed his arms and leaned his back against the window.

"I know." She still wasn't looking at him. "I'm fine." A small pause, then: "You?"

"Oh yeah! I'm great. Never better." He sniffed and looked away. He observed the guests going about their business for a few minutes before he said "We're both lying."

Erida sighed heavily, crossing her arms and leaning a shoulder against the window to look at him. "Of course we are. We have to. Nobody in our situation would be okay, but we have to pretend to be. Unless you have a better option…?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't. Do you?"

Erida looked back out the window, thinking. The Doctor could see her jaw muscles clench as she carefully decided her words. In the end, they were simple words.

"We bring it back."

"We can't bring it back, Erida. Gallifrey's gone."

"No, I can." She looked at him, her face full of confidence. "I know how."

"So do I, but it would cause a paradox that would destroy the entire universe!"

"Only if you take it out of the Time Lock."

"It was destroyed, Erida. It doesn't exist anymore except in the Time Lock. You can't bring it back any other way!"

"It exists inside a gap in reality. The Untempered Schism. It's being held there by Zagreus."

The Doctor leaned his head back against the window and rubbed his face. "Zagreus isn't real," he said through his fingers.

"You saw my memories! You know I'm not lying!"

"No, I believe you. Most of you, anyway. But Zagreus doesn't exist." His voice softened and he put his hands on her shoulders. "You were a child and had a traumatic experience at the Schism. Of course you would've tried to rationalize it and what better way to do that than to blame a scary monster from a scary story? But he isn't real. He never was."

Erida nodded slowly with pursed lips. "So that's what you think of me, then? That I'm a scared little girl who's blaming a fairy tale for her nightmares?"

That was exactly what the Doctor was thinking, but he knew better than to say so. It didn't matter. Erida reached up and pushed his hands off her.

"I can prove it. I can prove Zagreus is real and he has our world captive within the Schism, both existing and not existing. And our people are trapped there. I can get them out, return Gallifrey. If I can prove it, will you help me?"

The Doctor found himself backing away from her, but not in fear. She seemed to grow in her conviction. She looked taller, stronger, and authoritative. Of course if she actually could prove it he would. But it was impossible. The Doctor knew that. So he found he was stuck with a dilemma. Should he tell her the truth, thus encouraging her to try to prove it? The Doctor couldn't see many endings to this that didn't result in the universe being destroyed by paradox. If he lied, would she forget her quest? There was no way to tell for sure.

"No," he finally said. "No. I can't help you, Erida. Gallifrey can't be brought back. It's gone. They're gone."

Erida shook her head with disgust. "You won't even try? Coward."

The Doctor brushed off the insult, pretending like he hadn't heard her. "I've been traveling to take my mind off of it. Going to worlds I've never been to before, seeing everything the universe has to offer. Every once in a while I have people travel with me. It's fun and rewarding... I'm not saying it'll make you forget, but it could help you cope. It's helped me cope... and I'd love to have you with me. If you wanted to come along, that is." He had said this while looking down at his shoes, but with the last sentence he looked at her, pleading in his eyes.

But Erida again shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, but I'm not like you. I can't just stand idly by."

The Doctor had been accused of many things in his long life, but this was the first that he could remember being accused of "standing idly by." Even if he knew it wasn't true, it bothered him. He watched as she crossed his path and kept walking away from him.

"Where are you going?"

"I think it's time you took this off of me, and returned me to my TARDIS."

The Doctor nodded sadly. "Yeah. You're probably right." He lifted himself off the window and followed her back to his TARDIS.

END PART 3

Author's note: As always, I hope you're enjoying the story, please let me know if you're not and how I can fix it.

Much love! ~Belly


	9. The Deal

It was night when the Doctor parked his TARDIS on earth, just a few feet away from Erida's TARDIS. The streets were mostly empty. Erida rubbed the spot on her neck where the killswitch had been. It was still a bit sore and she had a pinkish puncture mark.

Erida's TARDIS had taken the shape of a medium sized palm tree, which was swaying in the gentle breeze. It rested between two other palm trees in a row on the side of a road. Hidden from view of the road, Erida pulled out a small circular key and inserted it into a small, circular hole in the bark. A crack appeared in the bark, running in a smooth line from near the roots to a foot above Erida's head. She pushed it gently and stepped inside. The Doctor followed.

He had been uncharacteristically quiet during their flight and walk back to her TARDIS, but as he stepped inside and looked around he finally spoke up.

"It's a war TARDIS."

"Yes, apparently there was some debate over whether or not I should be assigned a fully equipped war machine, but I guess necessity won out over distrust." Erida was at the console, checking all the systems.

Erida's TARDIS was very unlike the Doctor's. It felt colder, more distant from its operator than the Doctor's TARDIS was from him. The floor was grated in a starburst pattern, with the heart and major mechanics sitting below the console, which was a pale gold color, except where her controls were set in dark wood. On the console, among other things, were green and gray blinking lights. The column extending out of the console was a misty gray color. Surrounding the console, steel supports formed a circle and gold railings enclosed it, except for the open passage that faced the door. Her walls were all steel and straight lines.

The Doctor gave an involuntary shiver. He felt like her TARDIS was judging him, looking at him with a cool eye of distrust. Erida looked up at him.

"You'd be a big help, you know. I'm going to bring Gallifrey back regardless, but if you would help me, we could have them back that much quicker."

"No. I told you, there's no way to bring them back without destroying the entire universe. I'm not going to help you do that."

"I won't destroy the universe," Erida said with a hint of irritation. "But if you're not going to help me, then I guess this is goodbye."

"Right. So I guess I'll just... see you around then."

"Sure. See you around."

The Doctor nodded and turned to the door. He was inches away from it when he turned around.

"What do you want to bring them back for anyway!? They hated you!"

"They still deserve to _live!_ So what if they hate me? I mean, can you really blame them?"

"Right now, no. No I can't!"

"Well there we are then!"

The two of them now stood in tight, offensive positions. Erida stood hunched slightly with her white knuckled hands gripping a gold railing, the Doctor stood with a wide stance, his shoulders pushing forward. The electric tension between them seemed to make the air fizzle. They stayed like this, each trying to stare the other down, until the Doctor realized that she was too stubborn to give in to him.

"Fine," he said. "You want to go off fighting imaginary monsters and playing with the impossible, fine. I'll go with you. But just this once!" He watched Erida's eyes narrow with suspicion. "But here's the deal: If you can't prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Zagreus is real, then I'm gone. I'm gone and you have to give it up."

Erida relaxed her grip and straightened, still looking at the Doctor suspiciously. "So if I prove it, you'll help me."

"Yes, but you only get one shot! That's it! And if you're wrong and you can't prove it, then you have to give it all up. You have to stop trying to bring Gallifrey back."

Erida chewed her lip thoughtfully before coming to a decision. "Alright. Agreed. If I can't prove Zagreus exists, then I'll stop. Hell, I'll even travel with you if you want."

"Let's not be too hasty." He approached her and leaned against a steel support. "I know I invited you to come along before, but that's before I knew what a pain in the ass you were."

Erida felt her lip give an involuntary twitch. "Right then. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So pick a place."

"Any place?"

"Any at all. So long as it's inhabited or was at some point."

"Alright, since you're so confident." The Doctor went to her console, turning dials, knobs, flipping switches, pulling a lever. The ship groaned to life. "We'll go to New Australia in the 85th century. How's that sound?"

"Fine by me."

They landed and exited Erida's TARDIS. New Australia was a desert-like planet, only a few rivers. Most of it was comprised of sand dunes, which Erida could see off in the distance. However, they had landed in what passed for a city. It was all gray concrete buildings. Square, lifeless, and ugly. When Erida looked at her TARDIS, she saw that it had taken the shape of the wall behind it, so it looked like a portion of the wall extended further.

"Where are the people?" She asked the Doctor.

"I don't know." He walked off in a random direction, whipping his head in every direction. "It's not a deserted planet; there's supposed to be people here. Where've they all gone?" He began muttering to himself as he checked in the windows and down the alleyways, but there was not a soul to be found.

Erida crossed her eyes as she watched something white and tiny land on her nose. When she reached to get it, it had melted.

"Doctor," she said. "It's snow."

"Don't be silly, it's not snowing."

"You sure about that?" Erida looked up, where she could clearly see small white flecks of snow falling from the cloudless blue sky. It was quite warm out.

"Oh, look at that! That's brilliant!" The Doctor had followed her gaze up and was now admiring the impossible snowflakes.

"What an odd planet," Erida said as she examined several snowflakes that landed on the sleeve of her cardigan. "Never been to a planet that snows in 80 degree weather. This is the second place we've been where it's snowing. What's with you and snow?"

"I like snow!" The Doctor said, slightly defensive.

"Yes well I like people, so let's find some."

The wandered down the dead road until they came to a cross section. There were three possible ways they could go.

"Well?" The Doctor asked her. "Which way? You're the one leading this expedition."

"Why me? I thought you brought us here because you've been here before. You should know."

"I haven't, actually. Heard about it from a friend. Well, not a friend. Well… no I suppose he's a friend. Only met him a few times. Although… I think our minds are about to be made up for us." The Doctor pointed down the road that veered left.

They could see a gray, square-ish vehicle coming towards them. The Doctor and Erida waved their arms about, trying to catch the driver's attention.


End file.
